The Super Sheds That Put Those Ready-Made Shacks to Shame

A shed can be so much more than a cluttered cubby or a dank hovel where your rusty lawn chairs reside. These super sheds built by bike clubs, blacksmiths and gardeners show that with a little hard work and good planning, your backyard storage building can become a proper work area, perfect for taking on projects big and small.

Heart of the Garden

Heart of the Garden

Builder: Mike Christie-Fogg

Location: Colchester, Conn.

Square Footage: 250

Why the Shed is Super: Visually stunning, agriculturally functional, made from salvaged materials and popular with the neighbors' goats, Christie-Fogg's greenhouse and potting shed prove that one man's trash can become another's treasure.

While remodeling a 1940s Ford dealership near his home in Connecticut, woodworker Mike Christie-Fogg hit the lumber jackpot. "These big beams, rafters and solid ¾-inch pine flooring had to come out. It was a couple thousand square feet, and they were going to trash it." Christie-Fogg helped himself to the clean, old-growth wood. "I could have made furniture out of it, but then I thought, I have enough to make an entire barn."

The plan came together after he drove his Toyota Corolla past a pile of antique windows put out as garbage. He returned with his truck, loaded up the glass and went home to create an 18 x 10–foot barn with a 10 x 7 greenhouse.

Now, he germinates seedlings there in spring, and in summer, tomatoes ripen among rows of shovels. In fall, he starts onions, kale, broccoli and beets in the barn, then moves the plants to a heated nursery. He also dries the hops he uses to brew a dark Dunkelweizen. "There
are some beautiful barns in Connecticut," he says. "I always wanted one."

Heart of the Garden (Cont.)

Heart of the Garden (Cont.)

Hops for home-brewed beer dry in the New England shed Mike Christie-Fogg built from discarded materials he found on job sites and roadsides. "I'm a pack rat for recycled materials," he says. "I'm trying to tone it down so I don't have big piles of garbage lying around."